So supah3ro, there is not much more to see in Australia, since TAR 9, Australia has only been a destination once (TAR 18). There has been 6 times in India, 8 in China (including Hong Kong and Macau, 4 times in Japan, even 3 in Austria and Russia. Also we have had India in Seasons 18 and 20, and Indonesia in 19 and 21. So it is about time we have Australia as a destination also it would be good to see New Zealand in TAR 22.

So supah3ro,would like to get a response why you made that statement about Australia and what is your reasoning behind the comment.

I live in Australia and I have travelled around Australia. This place is in no shortage of an amazing landscape, but what we don't have is any type of culture. The only real culture here is Indigenous Australian culture, and TAR has already done that before. Not to mention as Leafsfan said, it's so expensive to film here. Normally when they come here they go from big city to outback city. The only big city left is Melbourne, and Melbourne is just buildings. They could do a leg somewhere in the outback, but it'll probably be crap cuz there's nothing to do. Unless you want them to dress up as kangaroos and hop around...

Uhh supah3ro I live in Melbourne and there's a lot to do. You could have a double leg based entirely in Victoria (self driving). The first leg could be AFL & Eureka Tower, with some stops at Great Ocean Road and Phillip Island, the second leg you go to Ballarat and do Eureka Stockade/Gold rush tasks or you could go to the Murray or even Wilsons Prom. (This is a very long two self driving legs but I could spoil it all ).

They have never been to Tasmania, so they could first go to Melbourne and then go there!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

If people are going to say Melbourne is bad, Tasmania is A LOT worse.

I don`t think that Melbourne and Tasmania can be more worse, then leg 3-4-5 this season!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

IF there was supposed to be an East Coast start, wonder IF/how long we could be delayed or rescheduled due to Hurricane Sandy?

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"Our fans are pretty good. They don't give away too much. Sometimes people love dropping spoilers, but our fans are good. They tend to do it in such a way that doesn't ruin it for fans who don't want to know."--Phil Keoghan

"Our fans are pretty good. They don't give away too much. Sometimes people love dropping spoilers, but our fans are good. They tend to do it in such a way that doesn't ruin it for fans who don't want to know."--Phil Keoghan

I'm really hoping for 2 legs in the Philippines after seeing that tweet. Manila to Banaue or Manila to Albay would be lovely. Although I would really wish they would start outside Manila for the Philippines. Cebu would be a great start with Cebu-Bohol route.And this could be another west coast starting line.

I'll point out the obvious and say that November 6 is Election Day in the US, and given that we're voting for President this year, there's no chance they start until after that. I don't even think they would do the pre-race sequester until the election is over.

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"I defy you to come up with a better name than Seven!""Alright... how 'bout Mug? Mug Costanza!"

I'll point out the obvious and say that November 6 is Election Day in the US, and given that we're voting for President this year, there's no chance they start until after that. I don't even think they would do the pre-race sequester until the election is over.

Has a start line ever been moved to a hurricane/disaster before? It looks as if the start is in NY it won't be happening for a long time

Who said anything about moving TO a disaster area?? The discussion was IF they could possibly be moving FROM an East Coast start.

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"Our fans are pretty good. They don't give away too much. Sometimes people love dropping spoilers, but our fans are good. They tend to do it in such a way that doesn't ruin it for fans who don't want to know."--Phil Keoghan

I'll point out the obvious and say that November 6 is Election Day in the US, and given that we're voting for President this year, there's no chance they start until after that. I don't even think they would do the pre-race sequester until the election is over.

"Our fans are pretty good. They don't give away too much. Sometimes people love dropping spoilers, but our fans are good. They tend to do it in such a way that doesn't ruin it for fans who don't want to know."--Phil Keoghan

The main issue with a eastward moving Race right now is that the airports in New York, all of them, have flooded runways, and until that has drained, and the instrumentation has been checked and repaired, all flights (and aircraft) will be unavailable to and from NYC.

I haven't heard about any other east coast airports, but the center of Sandy crossed over Philadelphia, and close to Baltimore, and that's not far from both Dulles and Washington Reagan National; I haven't heard anything specific about Boston Logan, either.

The bottom line is that aircraft for most or all international flights are possible out of position for the current posted flight schedules (aircraft often fly several different routes and route legs in one trip for the crew.)

Getting to Europe without connecting through the airports in the area affected by Sandy, and especially if it is a west coast start headed eastward needing connecting flights, is going to be a challenge for the next few days.

If they're headed to South America first, then that may not be impacted.

I wouldn't be surprised if this affects the filming route if they're planning to start filming in the next week or so, the problem in NYC is unprecedented as salt water flooding is a far more serious problem than snow from a blizzard or winter storm.

NEW YORK (AP) — Hurricane Sandy has left more than 16,000 flight cancellations in its wake.

Chaos at airports? Hardly.

Not long ago, a powerful storm pounding the Northeast would have brought havoc to some of the nation's busiest airports: families sleeping on the floor amidst mounds of luggage; passengers stuck for hours on planes hoping to take off; and dinners cobbled together from near-empty vending machines.

In the aftermath of Sandy, airports from Washington to Boston are deserted. There are hundreds of thousands of travelers stranded across the U.S. and around the world, but instead of camping out inside airport terminals they are staying with friends and family or in hotels.

After years of storm mismanagement and the bad public relations that followed, U.S. airlines have rewritten their severe weather playbooks. They've learned that it's best to cancel flights early and keep the public away from airports, even if that means they'll have a bigger backlog to deal with once conditions improve.

And by moving planes to airports outside of the storm's path, airlines can protect their equipment and thereby get flight schedules back to normal quickly after a storm passes and airports reopen.

These precautions make good business sense. They also help the airlines comply with new government regulations that impose steep fines for leaving passengers stuck on planes for three hours or more.

"The last few major storms created such gridlock, and such bad will with their best customers, they just had to shift their behavior," said Kate Hanni, who heads up the passenger advocacy group Flyers Rights and lobbied for the three-hour rule. "The flying public would rather have their flights pre-cancelled than be sleeping in Chicago on a cot."

Departure monitors at airports across the Northeast Monday and Tuesday reflected that new approach.

London: Canceled.

Seattle: Canceled.

Los Angeles: Canceled.

Hong Kong: Canceled.

Houston: Canceled.

And the number of cancellations is likely to rise.

"It will probably take until the weekend for things to return to normal," said Rob Maruster, the chief operating officer of JetBlue Airways, which is based in New York.

Even "normal" won't be perfect. Passengers are reporting multi-hour wait times at most airline call centers and they are likely to experience long lines once airports reopen.

JetBlue is keenly aware of what is at stake when a big storm hits. On Valentine's Day weekend 2007, a massive snowstorm hammered the East Coast. JetBlue was late to cancel flights. Passengers were stranded on planes for hours. When the storm finally cleared, other airlines resumed flights but JetBlue's operations were still in shambles.

Other airlines took note. Severe weather manuals were updated. Reservation systems were programmed to automatically rebook passengers when flights are canceled. And travelers now receive notifications by email, phone or text message.

"In past years, airlines would have soldiered on, trying to get their planes in the air no matter what," said George Hobica, founder of AirfareWatchdog.com. But they've learned that "there's no value in news cameras showing footage of people sleeping on cots in airports."

Enter Sandy.

Airlines spent days before the storm hit running though color-coded checklists to shut down their Northeast operations. Computers were covered in plastic tarps. Hotel rooms near airports were booked for gate agents and ramp workers. Planes, pilots and flight attendants were moved to other airports.

And — don't worry — shelter was found for animals traveling as cargo.

"Anything that could move by the wind, we've locked down," said Henry Kuykendall, who oversees operations for Delta Air Lines at New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport.

The airlines' in-house meteorologists started tracking this storm more than a week ago as it approached the Caribbean. By Thursday night, it was pretty clear that widespread cancelations would happen in Washington, Philadelphia, New York and Boston.

The next day, airlines started to waive fees for passengers who wanted to move to earlier or later flights. American Airlines, for instance, let travelers heading to any of 22 airports — from Greensboro, N.C. in the south to Buffalo, N.Y. in the north — change plans. Then teams started to cancel flights heading into or out of airports stretching from Washington to Boston.

That sounds easier than it is. Every plane in its fleet is in near constant motion. In one day, a single plane might fly from Atlanta to New York to Detroit — and then back to Atlanta and then once more to New York.

If the airline doesn't want that plane to spend the night in New York, it has ripple effects throughout the system. For instance, that plane might have been scheduled the next day to fly passengers to Seattle and then on to San Francisco.

When Sandy hit, almost no planes were left in the Northeast.

JetBlue scattered the majority of its planes to 20 different airports across the country, even though 80 percent of its flights start or end in New York or Boston.

American Airlines moved 80 planes that were supposed to spend Sunday night in the Northeast to other airports.

One Boeing 737 didn't make it out of Boston in time because of a mechanical issue. Left with no other solution, American filled the plane with fuel to make it as heavy as possible, faced it toward the wind, locked the wheels and moved it away from anything else.

Delta got all of its planes out of New York. The last plane took off at 1:01 a.m. Monday — a Boeing 757 with 157 people on board heading to Georgetown, Guyana. US Airways held all but one of its Transatlantic planes bound for Philadelphia at European airports. And United Airlines removed all but about a dozen planes from its Washington Dulles and Newark, N.J., hubs.

Once the clouds clear, flights won't start up immediately.

JetBlue's Maruster equated starting up the airline again to be like putting together a 1,000-piece jigsaw puzzle. It's not about staffing levels, but an overall game plan that makes sense. "At a certain point, putting more hands on the table doesn't help get it solved faster," he said.

The airlines need to ask a lot of questions before bringing in planes.

First, are the runways open? New York's JFK and LaGuardia airports both had water flow onto the runways.

Next, is there public transit to get workers to the airport? If not, does the airline have enough staff staying at nearby hotels that can be bused in?

Finally, the airline has to check on all the other people needed to run an airport: the Transportation Security Administration, customs officials, caters, fuel trucks and even the people who push wheelchairs through the terminal.

"Before we can even move an airplane here, we need to make sure those resources are here," said Delta's Kuykendall. "There's a lot of moving pieces that people don't see. It's a dance to get it all to work."

That depends on where the Race route is laid out to, and airlines often use aircraft on several routes for one "trip." In other words, airlines may not have the aircraft normally used in place at LAX for such flights. And then, there'll be all of the rescheduled travelers using alternate routes outside of the affected corridor in the northeastern and mid-Atlantic states to get where they're going.

Tasmania is S-O B-O-R-I-N-G. The only reason you would go there is a) because you're a Hawthorn supporter and need to go to Launceston to see Hawthorn win another AFL game or b) because you want to go hiking on Cradle Mountain. There is literally no other reason.

LAX has direct flights to London, Paris, Frankfurt and some other European destinations too. However the majority of them are flights operated by American Airlines or United Airlines, which would probably have aircraft somewhere else due to hurricane disruptions, like theschnauzers said. It is possible, however, that teams could fly on these airlines to get to major European hubs:

LHR:

Air New Zealand (Not sure if you can book flights from LAX to LHR on ANZ because of freedom restrictions, however this flight is definitely operating because ANZ does not fly to the Eastern Seaboard)

American Airlines (Flight running perfectly & LHR is a great connection point)

British Airways (Look at American Airlines)

United Airlines (One cancellation, but don't think that has had to do with the hurricane)

Virgin Atlantic (Look at American Airlines)

CDG:

Air France (Most likely, they are still operating flights between LAX and CDG)

Air Tahiti Nui (Definitely, they don't fly to the Eastern Seaboard at all)

FRA:

Lufthansa (FRA is how to get into a small airport in Europe and the flight isnt cancelled either)Other:

Aeroflot-SVO (Reasonable connection point, good flights to all over Europe, however this flight seems to be operating in a very limited manner)

Air Berlin-TXL & Dusseldorf (IDK what has happened to this flight)

Alitalia-FCO (Seasonal Flight only, currently not scheduled)

El Al-TLV (Not sure if WRP would let them connect here, but flight has not been cancelled recently)

Emirates-DXB (Great connecting point, even if it's a bit far away, but no cancellations yet)

Iberia-MAD (Not-so-great connecting point, but the flight seams to be fine)

KLM-AMS (Great connecting point, flight seems to be fine too)

Lufthansa-MUC (MUC has great connections and the flight's not cancelled)